The Blues are without several players as they journey to Villa Park, with Yossi Benayoun, Alex, Daniel Sturridge and Salomon Kalou also unavailable due to injury.

Ancelotti's latest casualties are two key members of his squad, with striking ace Drogba suffering from a fever and midfielder Lampard having failed to overcome a groin problem.

Injuries

"Frank is not available, Drogba is not available, Sturridge, Kalou, Alex, Benayoun are not available," said Ancelotti.

"Frank is getting better, but he needs maybe two weeks to be 100% fit. He had a problem on his adductor and we have to pay attention to that.

"He is working individually but he needs to have another two weeks. It's getting better. It wasn't an easy injury but I'm not a doctor. We have to speak with the doctor, who can be more precise.

"Drogba had a fever this week, all week, and wasn't able to train. He started training today, but he's not fit. He took antibiotics in the last few days, and will need to train next week."

Israel international Benayoun is facing six months on the sidelines after his national team doctor diagnosed an Achilles tendon injury to be more serious than first believed in Tel Aviv last week.

The midfielder, who will travel to Finland this weekend for an operation on Monday, sustained the problem in the Carling Cup defeat to Newcastle earlier this month but Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti insists scans showed no damage to the player's Achilles when he left England.

"We are sure that, when he left England, he did not have a tear in his tendon," said Ancelotti. "We are sure of this. He had a calf problem.

"The MRI showed this problem, but the tendon was clear. He had a problem at the start of the season with inflammation on his tendon, had treatment and came back to play for us and the national team.

Disappointed

"I don't know what happened afterwards. Now he has to have surgery and we're disappointed because we've lost a very good player. He was improving in the last game, but now this is the situation.

"I don't know what happened after he left England. I haven't asked him because I haven't seen him. I trust my doctor at this club, and we are sure he didn't have a tear on his tendon when he left England.

"When he left this club to go and play for Israel, his Achilles tendon did not have a problem."

A spokesman for Chelsea added: "When we released him for the national team, he wasn't clear to play. Our scans still showed that he had some healing to go, still."